Week 2 built on the tentative start to the season, with more clubs joining in on the action with some late spring sunshine.
Matches were spread across the province with games across all seven counties from Galway to Waterford.
Premier
Bouncing back from week 1’s washout, 3 games were played!
Cork County hosted local rivals Cork Harlequins at the Richard Beamish Grounds in a close game that looked like it could go either way until Cork Harlequins 1 (140/10) beat Cork County 1 (114/10) by 26 runs. Early season performers, Quin’s: Ru Jones 32, Joe Hourihane 26, Adam Hickey 5/35, Brandon Kruger 2/12. County: Rudolph Pollard 30, Francois Mostert 20 & 4/29, Byron McDonough 3/18.
Midleton CC was visited in Townparks by Limerick CC. The East Cork side beat the visitors. Midleton 1 (165/10) won by 73, Limerick 1 (92/10). Individual performances: Majid Khan 44, Zubair Shah 25, Dean Wilson 4/15 for Midleton. Pratik Sapkal 28no, Syed Hussain 3/32.
The very north of Munster saw Galway 1(190/10) losing by 165 runs to Kerry 1 who had made the long trip up from Spa to score a massive 355/9. For the home side: Subramanya Ramnathpur 56, Prashanth Viswanath 38, Mitul Galav 3/45. For the visitors, Monil Patel hit probably one of the biggest scores this season, 190. Supported by Bilal Ahmed 65 & Syed Owais 3/30
Division 1
Cork County (65/2) beat Limerick Limerick 2 (64/10) to win by 8 wickets at the Richard Beamish Ground. County’s bowlers dominating: Arpit Ahuja 5/26, Luca Newton 3/14.
Up the hill from Cork City at Farmer’s Cross, Harlequins Cork Harlequins 2 (214/8) lost by 3 wickets on DLS to UCC 2 (191/7). UCC performers: Soumya Rout 51, Hussain Pocketwala 28, Sidharth Pushp 3/45, Kunal Chaturvedi 3/35. For Cork Harlequins Barry Vosloo 35, Jack Buss 31, Ted Williamson 30.
Across the province way out west, the majestic Slieve Mish Mountains looked down on the closest finish of the division so far. Kerry 2 (158/10) lost by 3 runs to Limerick Blasters 1 (161/10).
For Kerry: Khuram Iqbal 33 & 4/19, Imran Pathan 29. Blaster’s Anunath Valsala 52, Fivin Thomas 32.
Division 2
Starting in Kerry, Kerry 3 (140/10) beat visitors Midleton 3 (108/10) by 32 runs. For Kerry: Godwin Jepadas 43, Sachin Thomas 3/9. Midleton, Paul Heron 39, Michael White 4/30.
Up the road in Adare, was the highest-scoring game of the day. Limerick 3 (225/8) beat Cork County 3 (201/10) by 24 runs. For Limerick Arslan Sayyam 91, Navroop Johnson 42, Victor van der Schyff 3/23. For County Craig Taylor 63, Kevin O’Sullivan 3/21.
Down at Farmer’s Cross, Cork Harlequins 3 (140/3) beat Limerick Blasters 2 (138/10). For Harlequins: Jatin Jaitley 75, Sharad Jaybhaye 3/18. For Blasters, Paulson George 38.
Home side United Cricket Clonmel 1 (174/10) beat Nenagh 2 (92/10) by 82 runs. For Clonmel Sreenivas Maniappan 4/40.
Division 3
Two games in the 3rd Division, both close, one down to the wire.
Down in the furthest East at the Carriganore Cricket Grounds, Waterford hosted their nearest neighbours Lismore as both opened their campaigns. Waterford & District 1 (168/7) beat Lismore 1 (167/9) by 3 wickets. For the home side: Uppili Raghavan 61, Pranav Immanni 3/24. For Lismore: Michael Talbot 28.
Limerick & Harlequins played out a thriller in the Manor Fields, Adare. Limerick (191/9) beat Cork Harlequins 4 (190/6) by a single wicket. For Limerick some new young stars rising, Ayan Ullah 46, Kumar Divyesh 47. For Quin’s John Buss 62no & 4/24.
Division 4
Another new ground opened for business. Limerick Blasters started the records at the Crokers Oval, Ballyneety with a 5 wicket win over Cork Harlequins 5. Limerick Blasters 3 (79/5) beat Cork Harlequins 5 (78/8). The visitors Stuart Bott 19, John Buss 5/21. Blasters, Shyju Kallor 27.
Finally, not far away in Shannon, the match between Clare 2 & Kerry 4 was abandoned.
